Tribulus KILLED my recovery.

Therapeutic Efforts Supplements & Lifestyle
#1

First of all, I’ve been off now for 2.5 months. I went through the crash, then started the recovery process.
To help with the recovery, i bought Tribulus off the internet and started taking it.

Here’s what happened:

  • I totally crashed
  • my genitals shriveled up
  • the worst part - i went from a relatively good mental state, to TERRIBLE.
    fatigue, bad mood, just bad bad bad.

i took tribulus for only 3 days. i took 2g the first day, 3g the second day, and 1g the third day.

i’ve been off tribulus for 1.5 weeks now and have only seen a slight mental improvement.
I fear that maybe taking this supplement caused something to totally crash and cause permanent damage.

I have, however, noticed a steady improvement in libido, sexual function since quitting, which is good. I have started getting morning erections and hands-free erections.

What do you guys think? Will i recover mentally from the Tribulus disaster?

I believe tribulus has cured me!
#2

Tribulus is known for its capacity to increase androgen levels. As you can see in this thread viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3250, many people seem to have problems with anything that increases androgen levels. How do you feel after heavy exercise or orgasm? Do these make you feel worse? Both increase androgen levels as well.

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#3

yes, both make me feel worse

#4

Hmm, that means that you are reacting bad to androgens, like many of us are. All I can do is share my own experience. I have realized that androgens are hurting me about 3 years ago. In consequence, I have reduced my TRT to minimal levels (about 70mg/2weeks), have abstinated from orgasm as much as possible and avoided heavy exercise (only exercise very lightly). However horrible this may sound, I am sure that this behavior has helped me in my recovery (I have recovered to some degree, in all areas). On the other hand, initial attempts with high dose androgen (mostly T gel) supplementation made me persistently feel worse.

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#5

Proviron makes me feel great, so I must not respond badly to androgens.

#6

That is a good sign, be happy. You may be one of the lucky ones. Proviron made me feel like crap. For how long have you been taking it?

It would be very useful if you could report your experience in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3250

Thanks.

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#7

Trib could have raised estrogen.

#8

I dont know but I found a lot bad about Tribulus. I found few cases of gyno on forums and on google. one 24 year old is in musclechatroo.com. He is having exactly the same problems as we do after using tribulus for 6 months.

#9

can you tell me any substances that might speed up my recovery time?
right now im thinking to just sticking with water and green tea.
it seems as though i have a positive reaction to both Monster energy drinks (the ginseng, i believe) and GNC Whey Protein

#10

Okay, by now i’m a little over 2 months off Proscar.

In the past week I’ve noticed that my flaccid penis size has improved, and brain fog has improved.
BUT
Now i’m having more trouble getting and maintaining erections, i’m having premature ejaculation, and watery ejaculate.
This just started happening today.
What gives???

#11

Get your hormones tested, it’s the only way to know what’s going on internally.

#12

Okay, so I’m nearing 4 months off of Propecia and I think I’m starting to get out of the woods with this stuff. Everything seems to be coming back slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwly. If I look back on the entire thing, I’ve been getting better each day even though my recovery rate is constantly slowing down.
My question is, is there some inevitable second crash I should be concerned about? Are people at their best right off the medication and then get progressively worse with each subsequent crash?

OR
Can I start to relax a bit now that the worst is behind me?

I understand that it varies from person to person so I’m not looking for a crystal-ball type of answer here, just IN GENERAL, going by the majority of the people who have posted here.

Side-notes:

  • I made a full recovery the first time i went off this stuff at age 17.
  • At no point during this have I not been able to achieve orgasm at least once a day.

Just humor me, what’s your best educated guess here as to my future?

#13

If you have felt slow improvement from week to week then it’s likely that things will continue that way or at least won’t get worse. Nobody can provide you with definite answers to your questions. The best thing for you to do is relax and get on with your life as normal and if things get worse - come back.

#14

Count yourself fortunate that you found out about PFS, and this site, so soon after stopping fin.
I stopped in 2010 but didn’t know it was PFS that was causing so many health issues until 2012. Two years of misery after a crash and completely in the dark about any recovery options. Imaging being blind and hopeless for 2 years.

Once I found out about PFS, TRT did NOT help. It made things worse.
It wasn’t until I stopped taking ALL prescriptions and started following CDNuts recovery plan that I began to see improvements, and that started about 10 months ago.

I’m inclined to believe we become androgen resistant and have fewer androgen receptors post fin. So it makes sense that TRT wouldn’t work, fewer receptors and the body is unable to benefit from the exogenous T or even Trib initially.
Over time, and with dedication to taking action based on your own decisions from advice given on this site, you will SLOWLY and GRADUALLY heal. Expect to see improvements as well as setbacks but don’t let the setbacks discourage you, they are temporary.

I took this poison for 7 years and lost EVERYTHING; wife, career, money, house, cars, friends etc…
But once I got dead serious about my own recovery and refusal to trust doctors or western meds, THIS is when I finally began to recover. I’m not saying all docs or meds can’t be trusted, but I AM saying a recovery or at least an improvement is FAR more likely if you follow a more natural path. Fasting, Diet (includes avoiding toxins, sugar, alcohol, gluten processed foods), Exercise (heavy weights, High Intensity Interval Training), vitamins/supplements, Meditation, Natural Tboosters, Estrogen Control with DIM or Calcium D-Gluconate and removing ALL stress from your life for a time.

I’m doing incredibly well these days, about 85% recovered and still seeking, researching and tweaking my own plan to recover fully. I feel like I have an obligation to periodically check this site and find ways to contribute or help those in dire straights now that I’m healing. It’s incomprehensible to me that Finasteride is still being sold, so we should expect to keep seeing new cases, more suicides and lives being destroyed. For those that agree and have some degree of recovery, let me encourage you to SEEK out the new guys in trouble, and try to help them. You just might save a life.

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#15

I’m really confused… I have the same problem awor speaks about. Any increased activity that boosts androgens makes me much worse. My last blood test showed good free T level. Estrogen still on the high side of normal. Insomnia still extreme. This site is so full of contradiction. I pm awor recently, he still seems to have these issues with activity and androgens. I do like the positive post but I am also sick of all the contradictions. This entire site makes us all sound like complete nut jobs.

#16

I really don’t know why this herb reversed my symptoms but made you feel worse. I really hope if this is a cure, it works for all of you, and not just some. I think it might have to do with taking the tribulus for such a short time, and then stopping it cold turkey and not weaning off, also maybe bad tribulus. You also say after you took it your sexual function improved? Maybe it did have some effect, but the brand you were taking also caused a spike in estrogen. This could especially be true if you took tribulus made from the flowers, because the flowers contain a bunch of weird stuff including even trace amounts of beta sitosterol, which the leaves and stems don’t have.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12587699

#17

Don’t think I can possibly trust taking this while there’s a risk. That’s how we all got in this mess to start with.

#18

Agreed, Tribulus sounds like it has the potential to mess everything up even more. When I read threads about guys who’ve tried things which have boosted T, it seems to end in tears a lot of the time. Or has no effect.

#19

3 days is too short of a time to evaluate any herb. Herbs take at least 1-3 weeks to build sufficiently in a persons system to note an effect.

Guys who don’t respond to androgens are usually estrogen dominant. Bodybuilders have the same problem - when on cycle, they lose erections/libido. What happens in this case is rapid conversion of testosterone to estrogen > high E2 > depressed libido and erections.

Trialing an anti-estrogen (Arimidex / Aromasin) could be helpful. I have myself, and boners/nocturnal wood improved dramatically.

Also, I’m running Tribulus right now and it’s having a good effect. Rubbing it 3-4 times a day, which is completely abnormal for me. Animal studies are showing Tribulus increases androgen receptors in the brain. This could explain our condition - normal hormonal profiles but can’t ‘feel’ the androgens.

#20

Not true, 3 days are long enough to see effects. Some guys crash shortly after ejaculation. Everything which raise testesterone may cause crash.